Golden Bears pull away with defense

Wednesday

Jan 30, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Todd Thorpe @toddrthorpe

UPPER DUBLIN — If Upper Moreland was going to win the game, it would have to make a few shots in the second half.

But while the Golden Bears offense did pick up after the halftime intermission, when Tuesday's Suburban One League American Conference boys basketball game at Upper Dublin was concluded, they knew that the 43-33 victory wasn't about offense.

"Defense, definitely," said UM senior point guard Matt Kohn. "We held them to 33 points. It's kind of tough to win a game when you only score 33 points."

The win was the second for Upper Moreland (9-9, 5-6 SOL) over the Flying Cardinals this season.

"I thought we won this game tonight at the defensive end," said UM coach Brian Corrado. "I thought we played very good defense."

Specifically, UM's defensive effort on UD's 6-foot-8 senior center Andrew Carber, was impressive from start to finish. Carber, who was defended by the combination of sophomore James Martin and senior Mark Williams, finished with just seven points and six rebounds, most of which came in the fourth quarter.

"We worried about Carber and we held him under 10 points," Martin said. "That was a big goal."

"I think both games Carber had six-digit output against us," Corrado said. "Every other game he had double digits. I think we did a good job on him. James and Mark are both two very good defenders, so we have that luxury.

"Carber's a nice player. He presents some matchup problems."

The Bears really struggled offensively in the first half, facing UD's multi-look 3-2 zone. In the first half, UM shot 6-for-18 from the field but the Cardinals didn't do much better and held just a 17-16 lead after two quarters.

UM made its move in the third quarter.

A 3-pointer by junior Tommy Robinson tied the game at 20 with a 3-pointer with 6 minutes, 3 seconds left in the third. Martin (team-high 13 points) followed with a 3, Kevin McFall scored down low and Kohn followed with a layup and just like that the Bears led 27-20.

"We adjusted to their 3-2 zone," Corrado said. "When kids see a zone, it's automatically a different mindset. You've got to continue to have that attack mindset, but it has to be in a different way.

"You've got to move the ball, it's positioning of players, its spacing, its angles. We didn't have good spacing and good angles in the first half. In the second half, I thought we did a nice job adjusting."

Despite finishing the game just 4 of 11 from the free throw line, UM was able to put the game away by playing aggressively in the fourth.

"We've definitely been preaching that the last week of practice," Kohn said. "We lost a tough game to William Tennent when we blew a lead. We've been working on that and it paid off."